Saturday, December 5, 2015

SWEDISH RAINBOW ORGANIZATIONS VISIT TALLINN

Tallinn - A number of Swedish LGBT organizations visited Tallinn on November 30th on a cruise to the Estonian capital -- meeting at the offices of the Estonian LGBT Association and OMA (broaden your mind) meeting with their representatives and also the Trans-Estonian group for mutual discussions and future planning.

Discussions also focused on the Estonian movement's continued battle to get final approval of the Partnership bill -- blocked in some committee work by homophoic members of parliament. This would be the first ex-Soviet nation to achieve partnership status.

The Swedes included representatives of Tupilak(Nordic rainbow cultural organization),ILGCN(international rainbow cultural network) Information Secretariat-Stockholm, the Viking Bears, Gay Seniors, the Nordic Rainbow Humanists and the International Rainbow Seniors of Stockholm.

The activists of Estonian LGBT Association and OMA also received the 2015 ILGCN Misha Rainbow Warrior Award for their outstanding work for LGBT rights in Estonia, their international links with the rotating Baltic Pride and other events, and work on the Partnership Bill.

(The award is named after the late gay Belarus cultural worker, Misha, savagely beaten in a homophobic attack and dying after a year-long period in a coma.

(The award this year is shared with the openly-gay politician and Budapest LGBT rights activist, Lászlo Sebi-Petrovszki of the Hungarian Democratic Party and the Scandinavian Leather Men in Stockholm celebrating their 40th anniversary.)

Tupilak and Viking Bears promised to renew contacts with the Estonian activists when they returned to Tallin for the April 15-17, 2016 meeting of the Bearty-Tallinn Bears and the Nordic Bear annualsession.